Description: We are offering " Three Hundred Years of the General Court of Massachusetts - 1630-1930 ". Tercentenary Exercises. To Commemorate its Establishment Three Hundred Years Ago, and to Note the Progress of the Commonwealth Under Nine Generations of Lawmakers. Held at the State House, Boston, Massachusetts. At a Special Session in the Chamber of the House of Representatives. October Twenty, Nineteen Thirty. (8" x 12 1/2"; 44 pages) Includes an engraved etching by Sears Gallagher of the State House in 1798; sketch by Charles Lawrence of The Old Town House occupied by the General Court from 1711 to 1747 when it burned down, with a man being whipped outside witnessed by officials and two people; sketch by David J. Abrahams of The Old State House at the Head of State Street where the General Court was held from 1748 to 1798. Also, includes pictures of Governor Frank Gilman Allen; President of the Senate Gaspar Griswold Bacon; Speaker of the House of Representatives Leverett Saltonstall; and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Arthur Prentice Rugg. The commemoration booklet gives the Chronology of over 400 dates from 1630 to 1930 with laws enacted [and consequently upheld by the courts] on each of those dates - some of these interesting laws we will cite below. Here is some of what is written in the foreward of the Chronology which we think is worth pondering: "The dates and achievements represent the majesty of a Commonwealth, as it shapes itself from primitive beginnings, with many falterings and uncertainties, with some painfully illiberal incidents, and with dangers constantly arising to be combatted from without and within, even unto this very day. Throughout every critical period, there stands forth the shield of the Law issuing from the General Court, always protecting, always conserving. Today we of the General Court of 1930 pause to review the developments and achievements of three centuries. They represent the legislative efforts of about 35,000 different persons who since 1630 have been members of this body. With reverence we salute the past, with courage we contemplate the present, and with hope we face the future. Of a truth, 'men die but institutions live'. " **NOTE** - here are just a few of the unusual, and sometimes cruel, laws enacted during the 1600s, which in the booklet are written exactly as they were during that period with the colonial era spelling of the words - Banishment of Anne Hutchinson in 1637 from the Massachusetts Bay Colony [for her criticism of Puritan Ministers]; Prohibition of Dancing at Marriages; Quakers to be committed to House of Correction and severely whipped; Quakers continuing to be obstinate shall be banished upon Pain of Death; Persons selling liquor to Indians to be whipped; In 1674 - "An armed vessel or two to be set out to repress the Dutch in the Sound" [later to be called the Long Island Sound]; Printing of Thomas a Kempis's "Imitation of Christ" ordered stopped, as it contains some things that are less safe to be infused among the people of this place. Obviously, there are many more archaic and thought-provoking laws cited in the booklet.
Price: 45 USD
Location: Santa Clarita, California
End Time: 2024-12-13T21:32:12.000Z
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